Collaboration and Outreach with the Lenape Tribe of Delaware

Our field is increasingly recognizing the need to engage source communities with the preservation of their material culture. Over the past year, as part of an undergraduate senior thesis in Art Conservation at the University of Delaware, I have collaborated with the Lenape Tribe of Delaware to study Native American fishing nets from the Mid-Atlantic region. The project was inspired by the work of the last known Lenape fisherman and net-maker Clem Carney and has benefited tremendously from various forms of community outreach.